In view of the typical American's desire to travel overland in four wheeled vehicles, the use of cartop carriers, luggage racks and the like has become very popular, so that items too large or too bulky for placement inside the vehicle can be carried along on the journey.
Although the vehicle owner can purchase many different types of luggage racks and cartop carriers for removable installation on the roof of the vehicle, many of today's vehicles come from the factory equipped with cartop luggage racks, with such vehicles typically being station wagons as well as the multipurpose and/or all terrain vehicles, including the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, the GMC Jimmy S-15, and the like.
Typically, the vehicle owner must go to a considerable amount of trouble if he is to protect luggage from rain and wind damage. A simple approach is of course to place the luggage on the permanently installed luggage rack, then wrap it in a tarpaulin or large sheet of plastic, and thereafter utilize one or more ropes or straps in order to tightly secure the luggage to the rack.
An obvious improvement over such an arrangement is that taught in the Morrison U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,419 entitled "Automobile Luggage Rack Cover," which issued Sept. 19, 1961. In that patent, the patentee taught the use of a container for luggage insertable into the generally rectangular frame mounted horizontally on the vehicle top in vertically spaced relation thereto. Morrison's generally rectangular container has an access opening therein and an endless flap on the container extending horizontally therearound at a location below the opening. Disposed in spaced locations around such endless flap are a number of grommets, into the openings of which one or more ropes can be threaded. Therefore, it is to be seen that a length of rope can be utilized for lashing the endless flap to the bars or rails of the luggage rack or cartop carrier, by passing the rope through one grommet, thence around the bar or rail, thence through another grommet, then around the bar or rail, and so forth until the rope has been utilized around all four sides of Morrison's container.
Although this is clearly a workable approach, it is obviously a tedious procedure, meaning that either installation of the container on the automobile, or the removal of the container therefrom requires a tangible amount of time and effort, that is particular difficult if the user is short of stature.
A somewhat different approach is taught in the Goodell U.S. Pat. No. 3,209,971 entitled "Automobile Top Carrier and Cases Therefor," which issued Oct. 5, 1965. Instead of utilizing a relatively flexible container of canvas or plastic, Goodell utilizes a plurality of complemental cases substantially filling the region bounded by the bars or rails of the cartop carrier. Although these cases are relatively easily installed in the cartop carrier or removed therefrom, they are of fixed size, meaning that anything stored in the several cases must be able to be accommodated therein. This of course would exclude the Goodell arrangement from carrying items that are particularly long or wide. In addition, these cases may well be expensive to produce.
The Motsinger U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,262 entitled "Plastic Bag for Carrying Water on Motor Vehicles," which issued Aug. 9, 1966, represents a novel approach in that it teaches the use of a large plastic bag resting on the top of a motor vehicle. This patentee explains that his arrangement can be utilized whether or not the vehicle is equipped with a luggage rack, with his plastic bag being able to be filled from a hose or the like. Motsinger explains that in the event the vehicle has a luggage rack, several different arrangements can be utilized for attaching the bag to the luggage rack. This obviously is not a teaching that will be generally usable by the public.
The McMiller U.S. Pat. No. 3,476,162 entitled "Latch Mechanism for a Car Top Carrier Door," which issued Nov. 4, 1969, teaches the use of a flexible cover having an opening in one sidewall permitting ready insertion of luggage and removal therefrom, but such invention is apparently confined to the locking elements particularly adapted for use with a readily removable luggage rack.
The Shields U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,547 entitled "Automobile Roof-Top Carrier," which issued Mar. 31, 1970, teaches the use of first and second cover means adapted to overlap the side wall portions and enclose the base compartment, and frictionally engage the side wall portions of the base compartment. The Shields invention represents a very limited teaching that is obviously expensive and that has little application to the general public.
It was to overcome the limitations and disadvantages of these prior art arrangements that the present invention was evolved.